As Lorenzo Lawson looked at the violent crimes local youth were committing, he saw a common theme: many of the offenses like robbery were economically motivated.

Lawson, founding director of the Youth Empowerment Zone, works to help youth find jobs and steer them away from crime when they’re at the “proverbial fork in the road” of their lives.

“They don’t want to go down the wrong path, but there’s nothing in place to help them go down the right path,” Lawson said. “So the Youth Empowerment Zone is that vehicle. Bottom line is (youth are) going to have to drive (themselves), but we’re the vehicle.”

The Youth Empowerment Zone’s upcoming annual fundraiser, “Driving Youth to Success on the Nonviolent Street,” is based on that metaphor. It used to be just “Driving Youth to Success,” but Lawson said he wanted to emphasize nonviolence after he noticed increasing violence among youth in Columbia this year.

The fundraiser on Friday, April 29, will raise money for the Youth Empowerment Zone, an organization that mentors youth as they develop job skills. Columbia celebrities, such as the mayor, local politicians and educators, will pump gas at two Break Time gas stations while collecting donations. For every gallon of gas sold at those stations all day on Friday, April 29, MFA Oil will donate 10 cents to the Youth Empowerment Zone.

The participating Break Time gas stations are at 110A E. Nifong Blvd. by Providence Road and 2101 W. Ash St. by Stadium Boulevard. Some Columbia celebrities will pump gas at the first location from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., and others will pump gas at the second location from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Lawson said the funds will be used for general operations, such as paying rent and supporting job training programs. He said the first annual fundraiser at Break Time gas stations brought in about $20,000.

“The second year it was half that,” Lawson said. “So as long as we can get that, $10,000, that would help tremendously. We need way more than that, but this will help.”